


Perfect

by LucariosFish



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: A lot of other characters mentioned - Freeform, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Heavy Talk, Injury, No Romance, Songfic, fathers, more stuff that probably should be tagged but I'm not sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 08:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19146901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucariosFish/pseuds/LucariosFish
Summary: Cryptor isn't some knight in shining armor, someone your mom would approve of, or make you exactly feel better, but he tries.





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sayijo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayijo/gifts).



_ I might never be your knight in shining armor _

 

—

 

It hit him after he saved a child.

 

Some rogue Serpentine and leftover Sons of Garmadon had teamed up and the Ninja were called in to take care of it. They dragged along Cryptor, who had at first refused, but Nya had convinced him that it would be revenge against the SoG. 

 

So he went along.

 

The group was messing up a local park, driving kids off the playground, pushing kids off swings and people into the duck ponds. Cryptor blocked off a Serpentine (a Fangpyre if he remembered correctly) from getting to a child at the water fountain, and after pointing his sword at the snake, put it away and turned to face the kid, make sure he was okay.

 

The kid looked up at him with fear. Cryptor’s scanners showed massive amounts of dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and serotonin. 

 

The components of fear. 

 

Cryptor hastily backed away from the child, hoping it’d calm him down, and immediately a woman (the child's mother perhaps) ran over and snatched up the child. She ran away without so much as a thanks. 

 

It hit Cryptor that people still feared him. 

 

—

 

_ I might never be the one you bring home to mother _

 

_ — _

 

It's a new day. Lloyd’s mother has come to visit, and looks surprised to see Cryptor. He fears that Misako will dislike him, but is surprised to be treated near the exact same as the ninja. Misako asks him a lot of questions.

 

Cole asks Kai to train, and they ask Cryptor to act as ref. And medic, because Kai cut his arm a small lick and was in “desperate need of a bandage.” Shaking his head to himself, Cryptor rummages through the kitchen drawers to find the silly cutesy Band-Aids the ninja stocked up on.

 

“...he's not safe to be around.”

 

Cryptor stilled. Was that Misako?

 

“What? He's good now! Cryptor’s only been nice. He's really funny too!”

 

Lloyd. They were talking about him.

 

“He may be so now, but the Overlord created him. I don't think-”

 

“Maybe you think too much! Cryptor is a great friend, he's changed now!”

 

“Yes, but I'm just worried for you, Lloy-”

 

“Where was the worry before I became the Green Ninja?”

 

Cryptor hastily grabbed the Hello Kitty bandages box and left with a tightly-clenched hand. It seemed that Lloyd's mother didn't trust him.  _ With good reason too,  _ he supposed.

 

—

 

_ And I might never be the one who brings you flowers _

 

_ — _

 

It was 3:48am and someone was banging a piece of metal outside. Cryptor growled as he tossed and turned in bed, thankfully not creaking the bed's wooden posts.

 

The banging continued on, and after laying in bed for three more minutes in clanging metal agony, Cryptor shot up with a scowl.

 

He angrily stalked his way to the source of the offensive noise, the garage. Inside, Cryptor found Jay absentmindedly banging away at a metal sheet. The nindroid scowled.

 

“Can you stop that insistent racket? Fucking hell, I'm trying to sleep!” Jay jumped, his head shooting up as the hammer in his hand went down. Onto his other hand.

 

Crying out, Jay dropped the hammer onto the worktable to clutch his injured hand. Cryptor cursed and took out the first aid kit Nya and Zane stored away in the garage, just in case these kind of accidents happened while the mechanics were on the job. 

 

“Let me see your hand,” Cryptor says to Jay. The lightning master whines as Cryptor checks and looks over Jay’s hand, making sure nothing was broke. Luckily it was just a bruise, and per the ninjas’ tradition, he picked out a blue puppy bandaid and placed it over Jay's bruise. 

 

“There, better. Now, mind explaining to me just what the fuck you're doing up at 3:53am?”

 

Jay laughs nervously, scratching at the skin around the bandage. “Haha, nothing much. Just wanted to start work early.”

 

Cryptor stares at him with a raised eyebrow. His scanners showed a low imbalance of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, the neurotransmitters of depression.

 

The blue ninja sighs. “Not buying it, huh?” Cryptor scoffs, insulted Jay would think so. The ninja laughs a little at the nindroid’s reaction.

 

“Okay okay, I get it. I'm not great at acting. Not like my real dad anyway.” Jay's light tone took a dark turn, and Cryptor blinks in surprise. Ah, is that what this was about? He'd heard something like this from Kai regarding Jay's past.

 

“Is this what this is all about? Your famous actor father?” Cryptor looks at the banged up metal sheet Jay was working on, and snorts contemptuously. “You realize how futile it is to hate someone who’s likely forgotten or doesn’t care about you? Let me tell you from experience: it is  _ extremely  _ useless and idiotic of you to.”

 

Jay jolted on his workstool, laughing a little from the bluntness of Cryptor’s honesty. “Haha, yeah I guess-”

 

“Don’t guess. Just accept it,” Cryptor cuts Jay off. “Trust me, life will get on with itself easier. I’m sure even a simpleton like you would appreciate the world to run smoother.” Cryptor swipes the hammer Jay dropped from the table and puts it back on the shelf behind him. “Trust me, it’s easier to forget.”

 

“Cryptor… Is this like the Overlord for you?” Jay asks, then squeaks as Cryptor slams a clenched fist onto the wall, shaking the tools on their hooks. 

 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Jay chews his lip. “I’ll just go back to bed.” He tries to walk past Cryptor to get through the door, but the nindroid stops him with an arm.

 

“No, it’s fine. I brought this upon myself.” Cryptor sighs as he scratches at his arm, his systems kicking up his cooling system to keep himself from getting too heated. “You’re wrong, anyhow. The Overlord isn’t my father. If we’re following your lead, I suppose...Zane would be my father, and I resented him.”  

 

Jay inhaled sharply. Right, he had forgotten that Cryptor was not just a Pixal-Borg creation, he was based off Zane. Which...does mean that Zane is Cryptor’s father, technically speaking. 

 

“Oh,” the lightning master said dumbly, unsure on how to respond to the revelation. Cryptor nods, his inner fans deciding to turn on.

 

“Yea, it uh- It was weird getting used to seeing him around, I guess. My dad, so to speak. I just bury that piece of information away, far into my databases. I’d imagine it’s the same for you, huh? Famous actor your father is and all that. Just think of him as a loser or something else stupid like being a jackass actor, and you’ll get over the fact he’s your dad. You have adoptive parents in the desert, don’t you?” Cryptor halted his ramble to get Jay to talk.

 

Jay’s eyes gleamed for the first time since they started their conversation. “Yea! Ed and Edna, you’ll meet them one day. They’ll absolutely love you! Oh, but they talk  _ a lot  _ and I know just how much you hate talking with people, but I promise you they’re lovely people! My dad taught me how to…”

 

Cryptor spent 12 minutes listening to Jay talk about his parents, and another 5 minutes carrying and getting the ninja to their room and into bed. Sleepily, Jay mumbled how “brutally honest” Cryptor was and how harsh he always sounded, and that’s what he liked about the nindroid.

 

Cryptor definitely didn’t go to sleep with a smile on his face after that.

 

_ — _

 

_ But I can be the one _ _  
_ _ Be the one tonight _

 

—

 

The next night, Cryptor woke up in the middle of the night oddly feeling thirsty. Maybe he should ask Zane if he felt it too?

 

...Search results say it is dehydration, which means for nindroids their cooling system needs further assistance. 

 

Sighing, Cryptor gets up from his bed, muttering to himself if being up in the middle of the night was going to be his new hobby. Stumbling his way into the kitchen for a glass of water, Cryptor contemplated the addition of coolant in his drink, then pushed the thought away. Best to not mess with his systems.

 

Humming quietly to himself, Cryptor heard the crackling sound of a fire coming from outside the monastery. Curiosity piqued, the nindroid slides open the entry door to step out into the cold mountain air.

 

Immediately Cryptor spots Kai off to the side leaning on the wall, a fireball floating inside Kai’s cupped hands. The nindroid’s about to walk over to the ninja’s side, but stays still in the doorway for a moment longer, wanting to observe before doing anything. 

 

Kai let the fireball roll around in his hands, staring blankly ahead as his shoulders tensed and rolled. Cryptor’s scanners revealed the fire master held large amounts of acetylcholine, a contributor associated to wakefulness and aggression. But it didn't take scanners for Cryptor to know Kai was angry.

 

“What's got your gi in a twist?” Cryptor asks Kai as he slides over to lean on the wall beside the ninja. Kai's eyebrows scrunch together, and both his hands clench, the comfortingly small, warm fire engulfing the ninja’s hands and setting them ablaze. 

 

“Nothing, Cry. Just go back to sleep.” Kai's voice edged anger and flowed with bitterness, but simmered into silence as Cryptor gently covered his friend’s hands with his own, extinguishing the fire. Now he had to move onto the task to extinguish the inferno Kai held within his thoughts.

 

“No, really, what’s wrong?” 

 

Kai scowls, baring his sharp canines, then releases his lips into a sigh. “Am I… useless?”

 

Cryptor blinks. “What?”

 

“Useless, Cry. Am I useless?” Kai turns his head to look up at Cryptor, and the nindroid froze in shock that yes, Kai was really asking him this question.

 

“Wh- No, of course not. What made you think that?” 

 

Kai sighs in exasperation, turning his head and dropping his head on the wall behind it, a heavy  _ thunk  _ coming from it. “I don’t know. I mean, I do know, but it’s probably stupid.”  _ Like me _ goes unsaid between the two, but they know, and Cryptor rolls his eyes.

 

“Just say it, dumbass. Nothing’s stupid. And no, Jay doesn’t count.” Kai laughs weakly, and that just confirms Cryptor’s suspicions that it was a serious talk. 

 

“Okay, okay… It’s just, I don’t know, been hitting me recently. Like… Zane’s a robot, he’s the brainiac of the team. Nya and Jay are the super smart mechanics, Cole’s the muscle, and Lloyd’s the Green fucking Ninja, a literal descendant of God. I’m just the dude with absent parents who has to be the most basic bitch in all of Ninjago.” Kai summons a fireball again and rolls it around in his hands again, watching it with contemplative eyes, and it’s only know does it register with Cryptor that this was a coping mechanism. Play with the fire and let it consume you. 

 

Yea, not on his watch.

 

“Kai, what the fuck are you talking about? You’re more than some basic bitch.” Cryptor swats at the fireball in Kai’s hand, driving it away. “You are one the second best sword fighter I know, me being the first of course.” Kai snorts, shoving Cryptor’s shoulder with his own. Cryptor smirks.

 

“Also, you’re the loudest on the team, the most enthusiastic about kicking ass. You’re the one who gets them to all to keep fighting, the fire. Pun intended.” Kai shakes his head, chuckling a little as he drops his head onto Cryptor’s shoulder. 

 

“Alright so I’m not useless. But I can’t help feeling it, you know? You understand.” And Cryptor does. He understands it on a deep personal level, and it kinda hurts to know his friend is going through the same thing. 

 

“Yea,” Cryptor sighs, laying his head over Kai’s. “I do. Don’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate though.”

 

Kai hums. “Depends I guess.”

 

“Yea.”

 

Cryptor would later beat himself up for not helping his friend out more, but Kai’s smile and shitty jokes the next day erased any sympathy Cryptor had left. Till next time, he supposed.

**Author's Note:**

> The song is "Perfect" by One Direction lads


End file.
